1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electric power messaging and settlements, and more particularly, to advanced energy settlements, messaging, and applications for electric power supply, load, and/or curtailment and data analytics associated with the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, it is known in the prior art to provide electric power systems management including financial settlements and messaging. However, limited information is available to electric power consumers regarding their past, present, and future projected use of power with sufficient details to make informed choices about types of power supply and pricing alternatives. Furthermore, retail electric providers (REPs) in prior art systems and methods have no access to data and analytics to provide optimal pricing for power supply to business and/or residential electricity customers, and do not have the ability to provide advanced energy settlements to provide the lowest pricing for power supplied at predetermined times, due at least in part to costs associated with obtaining power agreements without visibility to the data and analytics that provides reduced risk of capital and performance associated with the supply and demand sides.
Examples of prior art documents include the following:
U.S. Pat. No. 6,978,931 for Energy credit card system by inventor Brobeck issued Dec. 27, 2005 describes a method of providing an energy credit system for providing redeemable energy or mass transit credits to consumers who contribute power to a shared electric power grid, wherein at least some of the consumers have their own local renewable energy source connected to the power grid including the steps of measuring the excess power generated by each consumer's energy source that is fed into the electric power grid, awarding energy credits to each of the consumers in relation to the excess power contributed to the electric power grid by the consumer, allowing each consumer receiving the energy credits to redeem them by acquiring fuel, power, or mass transit tickets from a fuel or power provider or mass transit system, and requiring the operator of the electric power grid to compensate the fuel for energy provided or mass transit system in direct relation to the energy credits redeemed by each consumer. Additionally, it claims recording the credits at an energy brokerage house, requiring the operator of the power grid to compensate the brokerage house for the expenses generated by the consumers, and allowing the brokerage house to retain as profit a portion of the compensation received from the operator of the power grid. See also, US Patent Application Publication No. 20040206813.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,900,556 by Provanzana, and assigned on the face of the patent to American Electric Power Company, Inc., for Power load-leveling system and packet electrical storage issued May 31, 2005, describing a large-scale, capacitor-based electrical energy storage and distribution system capable of effectuating load-leveling during periods of peak demand and a cost savings associated with the purchase of electrical energy; and disclosing a method of storing and distributing electrical energy to achieve a cost savings associated with the purchase thereof including the steps of providing a source of electrical energy, providing at least one electrical energy storage capacitor capable of storing a significant amount of energy, the capacitor in communication with the source, providing control equipment adapted to analyze and monitor the real-time cost of purchasing electrical energy from the source and to predict a future cost, supplying an amount of electrical energy to the capacitor to charge it in response to a charge signal from control equipment, discharging at least a portion of the stored energy to a load, and repeating to maximize cost savings; also disclosing deducting the value of the electrical energy sold back to the source for any costs of purchasing energy from the source. See also US Patent Application Pub. No. 20030160595.
US Patent Application Pub. No. 20090177548 for Cooperative environmental and life benefit exchange system by Eisnlohr filed Jan. 9, 2009 and published Jul. 9, 2009 describing a cooperative environmental and life benefit system including a grid transmitting available energy, a plurality of rate payers using energy generated from available energy sources, a plurality of utility companies providing the grid, a plurality of credits redeemable for acquiring one or more of a plurality of life benefits, and an administrator overseeing a redemption process, wherein credits are accumulated by the rate payers based on either a predetermined amount of electrical energy purchased from or sold back to the grid; further describing the redemption process wherein credits accumulated by the payers are redeemed at a redemption rate to provide a redemption value, which is remitted by the rate payers to satisfy benefit cost for acquiring the benefits, or portions thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,274,975 for Optimized energy management system by Miller and assigned to Gridpoint, Inc., issued Sep. 25, 2007 describing methods and systems for optimizing the control of energy supply and demand, including activating battery storage and alternative energy sources to sell energy to the power grid during favorable cost conditions, including method steps for allocating energy at a location where the electrical energy is consumed, with computer-implemented steps of: determining a marginal cost for each of a plurality of energy sources available at the location, at least one of which is a non-grid source of electricity; determining a capacity of electrical energy available from each non-grid energy source; determining a demand for electrical energy at the location; dynamically allocating, in order of lowest marginal cost to highest marginal cost, electrical energy capacity from each of the plurality of energy sources to meet the demand; reducing demand at the location by automatically deferring electrical consumption for a device for which consumption can be deferred from a higher-cost time period to a lower-cost time period, including the computer-implemented step of issuing a command to the device to cause the deferral to occur, and further including determining projected marginal costs in each of a plurality of future time frames and deferring electrical consumption for the device to one of the plurality of future time frames, while conforming to an operational constraint for the device, the operational constraint for the device comprising a maximum time duration for which the device can be switched off; further including step of determining, on the basis of time-varying cost of grid-based electrical energy, whether it is cost-effective to sell electrical energy back to a grid-based source, and if so, automatically initiating such sale; and the step of selling electrical energy from a battery to the grid-based source. See also US Patent Application Pub. Nos. 20110208365, 20070276547, and 20060276938.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,890,436 for Billing and payment methods and systems enabling consumer premises equipment by Kremen and assigned to Clean Power Finance, Inc. issued Feb. 15, 2011 and describes a variety of systems and methods enabling renewable energy consumer premises equipment (CPE) such as dual metering techniques, and disclosing supporting by increasing a likelihood of meeting financing obligations, a consumer purchasing, leasing, installing, and/or maintaining renewable energy CPE for power generation at a consumer premises; coupling the CPE to a power grid operable to receive at least a portion of the power generated by the CPE, measuring power generated by the CPE and delivered onto the power grid of a utility, and processing receivables from the utility associated with the power generated and delivered onto the power grid directly to the lender at times corresponding to power measurement to fulfill the consumer's obligation to repay the loan. See also US Patent App. Pub. Nos. 20080091625, 20080091581, 20080091626, 20080091590, 20080091580.
Thus, there remains a need for improved information, controls, real-time or near-real-time data on power consumption for electric power market participants, REPs, customers, data centers, microgrid owners, and messaging and management of financial settlement therefor.